COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA (ABN: 122 104 616)

Sunday, April 28, 2013

NSW Police hit with $1.8m legal bill after piracy case

NSW Police incurred a $1.8 million legal bill defending itself
against a multinational software company that sued for wide-scale
copyright piracy, figures obtained under government information access
laws show.

Software company Micro Focus alleged in 2011 that the
NSW Police Force, Ombudsman, Police Integrity Commission, Corrective
Services and other government agencies illegally used its ViewNow
software, which is used to access the intelligence database known as
COPS.

The company alleged police and other agencies were using
16,500 copies of its software on various computers when police were only
ever entitled to 6500 licences. The group initially alleged $10 million
in damages but later increased this to $12 million after reviewing the
results of a court-ordered, $120,000 KPMG audit of the NSW Police
Force's computer systems.

The police force maintained during the
court proceedings that it had paid for a site licence that entitled it
to unlimited installations of the software for all of its officers.

Despite
this, it settled the matter out of court last year for an undisclosed
sum. The other agencies previously settled the matter out of court, also
for undisclosed sums.

No internal documents were handed over to Fairfax Media as part of its government information access request.

Darren
Brand, Senior Sergeant co-ordinator at the NSW Police information
access and subpoena unit, denied a request for documents relating to how
much was paid to Micro Focus as part of the settlement, and why the
matter was settled out of court.

Mr Brand did however divulge that
no one was sacked as a result of the legal action by Micro Focus and
the legal costs for the case totalled $1,829,709.29.

''To put these costs in context, Micro Focus has claimed as much as $12 million in damages,'' he said.

Mr
Brand said there was a stronger public interest against releasing all
of the information requested. He said it would ''breach'' the NSW Police
Force's obligation to maintain the confidential terms of the
settlement.

Mr Brand also believed the release of that information
''could result in further legal action against [the police force],
which would incur further expenditure of government funds''.

But
Sydney piracy investigator Michael Speck said it "beggars belief" that
the NSW Police Force had continued to pursue the case even after all
other government agencies had settled.

"One can only assume [it] was motivated by ready access to the public purse," Mr Speck said.

"They
have settled the case after fiercely resisting it on commercial terms
that include the settlement being confidential. You'd have to wonder how
the confidential settlement sits with the obligation that police have
to properly investigate and report on alleged misconduct."

Mr
Speck said the public deserved to know if police had properly
investigated the matter internally, if they had taken steps to ensure
something like the matter never happened again, and if action would be
taken against the individual who allegedly set it on the path of
software piracy.

boardermail.com.au 27 Apr 2013

Corruption in the police is widespread.

This corruption is supported by the government.

When a 'civilian' reports this corruption, there is no response from but rather a vendetta by authorities.

Software piracy plays only a small part in the bigger picture of police corruption